Scientific Method: Medical Marijuana Legalization and Marijuana use among Youth in Oregon. (Essay Sample)

RESEARCH METHOD ANALYSIS
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Scientific Method
Science is a method; it is not necessarily about what you study but how you study it. Essentially, the scientific method entails observing, hypothesizing, drawing inferences, and evaluating results and it takes the following forms: descriptive, correlational, experimental, and meta-analytic. Descriptive research is a scientific method that focuses on explaining the state of affairs in a way that creates snapshots or mental pictures of a certain phenomenon. It aims at describing a phenomenon through various methods such as observations, interviews surveys or presenting case studies. It is to be understood that descriptive research does not focus on explaining why things are the way they are but it allows the formulation of questions for further scientific inquiry. Second, correlational research aims to assess and identify the relationship among/ between variables and the complex interplays involved such as the correlation coefficient. This method helps identify the mode of relationship, direction, and magnitude for scientific inquiry. It paves for testing and making of predictions but it cannot be used to draw conclusions regarding the causal relationships between variables. Third, experimental research takes over where correlational research stops as it appertains to causation. The goal is to determine causation; scientific experiments are research desig